FULLERTON, Calif. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State freshman starting pitcher Erik Averill struck out a career high eight batters, but the NCAA leading Sun Devil offense was limited to a season-low five hits as the No. 7 national seed Cal State Fullerton Titans opened the super regionals with a 5-1 loss Friday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 3,541 at Goodwin Field.

The Sun Devils now must win the next two games in the best-of-three super regional in order to keep their season alive and make a 19th appearance in the College World Series. Friday's loss dropped ASU to 53-13 overall and snapped its six-game win streak. Cal State Fullerton won its fifth straight to improve to 47-13.

Fullerton starting pitcher Jason Windsor limited the normally potent ASU lineup to only five hits and one run in seven innings. The junior right-hander struck out five and walked only one to improve to 10-2 on the year. All-American closer Chad Cordero, who was the first-round draft choice of the Montreal Expos last week, picked up his eighth save of the year with two perfect innings.

Averill, a freshman who was pitching near his hometown of Orange, Calif., was saddled with the loss giving up nine hits and five runs in six and a third innings to fall to 8-2 on the year. The freshman All-American struck out a career high eight batters, bettering the seven he had against Hawaii-Hilo (1/18) in his first collegiate start. Redshirt sophomore Mark Sopko (Joliet, Ill.) finished the game for ASU throwing 1.2 hitless innings.

The Titans struck first with a four-run second inning. Designated hitter P.J. Pilittere started the five-hit barrage with a leadoff double down the left field line. After Averill hit left fielder Danny Dorn, third baseman Ronnie Prettyman plated two with a triple to the left field gap. Second baseman Jason Corapci and center fielder Shane Costa completed the scoring with a pair of run-scoring singles.

Arizona State didn't record a hit until the fourth inning and finally put a dent in Fullerton's four-run lead with a single tally in the fifth. Junior left fielder Nick Walsh led off with a double to the right field gap and later scored on a one-out single up the middle by sophomore catcher Tuffy Gosewisch.

ASU's only other threat came in the eighth inning when Jeremy West drilled a ball to the right field gap that was chased down on a diving catch by Costa to save a run from scoring.

The five hits tied a season low for the Devils, when they also had five against nationally ranked Stanford (3/24). Andre Ethier (Phoenix, Ariz.) extend his career-high hitting streak to 21 games and West went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 22 games. All-American shortstop Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-4 to go hitless for only the fifth time this year. The one run scored also tied a season low (previously vs. Oregon State and Washington) and marked only the 15th time during ASU's NCAA record 499 consecutive games scoring streak that the Devils have scored only one run.

ASU faces a must-win game tomorrow at Goodwin Field with first pitch scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Senior right-hander Ben Thurmond (7-0, 2.68 ERA) will start for the Devils against CSF freshman left-hander Ryan Schreppel (5-2, 1.86 ERA). The game will be televised live in Phoenix on Cox Cable channel 2 with Gary Miller and Jerry Kindall calling all the action.